Tuesday, January 27, 2009

With all of the excitement around February 12th approaching and the knowledge that the 2009 season won’t be far behind, I was reminded earlier this week by longtime reader (if not serial poster) Tim Harrison that the Indians are likely to honor Herb Score in some capacity this season with what will likely be a commemorative patch.

While Joe Posnanski put into words better than I what Herb meant to generations of Indians fans at the time of his passing, Tim sent me a patch that he had come up with that beautifully illustrates Herb’s contributions to the organizations from his debut in 1955 to the last call at the mike in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.The complexity of the design appeals to me as many of the patches that are done are simply too small or obscure to know what’s being honored, but with this one combining the #27 (to commemorate his achievements as a player) and the microphone (to recognize his contributions as a broadcaster) leaves no doubt as to who it honors.

It’s a much more beautifully illustrative tribute than the simple initials that so many patches have evolved into by incorporating what Score provided us in his long and illustrious career as an Indian – memories on the mound and in the booth.

When sending it to me, Tim mentioned that his favorite commemorative patch was the Olin/Crews patch from 1993 with the arrow and the star in the baseball in that it said something more than just listing simple initials. To me, Tim’s design succeeds in the same way and, while the Indians surely have already designed one and submitted it to MLB for approval to be used this year, I’ll use Tim’s design on the sidebar all year as a reminder of an Indian lost.